Mastermind-The Scientist
by The Friendly Space Marine
Summary: Mastermind. The NightWing who would become infamous for experimenting on live RainWing subjects. But what is the story behind Starflight's often demonised father? Why did he do it? What drove him to such lengths? (Based on Coldplay's the Scientist. Had to reupload and edit this due to some problems)


**The Scientist**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the song or any of the characters in the Wings of Fire series. I am just an ardent fan of both Coldplay and Tui T Sutherland**

 **Author's Note:**

 **This story was inspired by Coldplay's song, the Scientist.** **When I first heard it, I couldn't help but think of Mastermind-that strange NightWing who spent most of his time in the book cooped up in the lab. I've wanted to write a songfic about him for a long time… Him and Farsight. Personally, I've always wondered why he was so obsessed with his work and I've tried to explore that here: it was a way to escape from the pain of his loss.**

 **I know many of my readers would want me to stop working on distractions like these and keep working on my other fanfics but I felt I had to do this-a tribute to Mastermind and Farsight. To my friends; Kitty and Dusty, if you're reading this, this one's for you guys for reminding me about the two NightWings the world forgot.**

 **So please do tell me what you thought of it. I may work on similar songfics for the other dragons here, depending on whether I can find songs that are appropriate. It's my first romance/tragedy story so feedback will be greatly appreciated. I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

 **Years ago...**

"Umm, hello? Is anyone down there?" a voice called from the tunnel leading to the lab. A female NightWing peered tentatively in through the doorway.

"What is it now?" a tired, plaintive-sounding voice answered from behind a stack of scrolls. "Can it wait? I'm busy!"

"I'm sorry, I was instructed to look for a NightWing called Mastermind," the female NightWing said apologetically. "It's a matter of utmost urgency."

"Hang on, I'm on my way," Mastermind said, pushing his way past the literal wall of scrolls. He was muttering angrily about how some dragons just couldn't comprehend the importance of his work. Eventually, the gaunt, disapproving, frazzled-looking face of Mastermind poked out.

He demanded, "What's the matter this-" His voice suddenly trailed off as he laid eyes on the NightWing standing before him. His first thought was; three moons, she's beautiful. He immediately regretted his earlier tone. I hope I haven't scared her, he thought as he studied her apprehensive-looking face. Slightly abashed, he stepped out from behind the pile of scrolls.

"I'm really sorry about that," he said, all hint of irritation in his voice gone. "You caught me at a bad time. Who are you and how may I help you?"

"I'm Farsight," she replied. A dozen thoughts were running through her head. He apologized, Farsight realised with a start. I don't believe it, she thought. A NightWing who was actually nice enough to apologize. "I have a message from Princess Greatness. She says she wants to see you in the Council chamber immediately."

"Oh, of course," Mastermind said hurriedly, almost as if he was snapping out of a daze. He made to leave but then he stopped. "I'm really sorry about just now, Farsight," he said. "I'm really tightly-strung right now. Do you suppose we could meet up later so I could make it up to you?"

He apologized again? This must be the kindest NightWing on the whole island! "Sure," she said, still recovering from her pleasant surprise. "Yeah, I'm free for the rest of the day."

"Great!" Mastermind said. "I guess I'll see you later then." He was a tumultuous mess of emotions-nervousness, excitement-as he walked down the tunnel. His face broke into a smile-something he hadn't done in a very long time...

 **Sometime later...**

"Farsight, I'm sorry," Mastermind pleaded. "I've been really busy lately. There are just so many things going on now, I've barely had any time at all."

"Mastermind, we can't go on like this," Farsight told him. "Already I barely get to see you and now you're telling me I might not get to see you at all? Can't Princess Greatness find someone else for the job?"

Ever since their coincidental meeting in his lab a year before, the two of them had been dating. It was a rather on and off thing especially with Mastermind's ridiculously-busy schedule but he knew how much their time together meant to Farsight and he didn't want to let her down. That the Queen, through her daughter, had instructed him to begin work on a huge new project, didn't help his already stretched schedule.

"But no one else is capable enough," Mastermind said. "She specifically selected me for the task."

"Well you're going to have to make a choice then," Farsight said defiantly. She didn't want to sound unreasonable but it hurt her to think that Mastermind was willing to throw away everything that had ever happened between them for his work. "Me or your new science project." She wanted him to choose. She didn't want him to lead her on like this anymore. She needed to know that he really felt for her the same way she felt for him.

Mastermind's face took on a trapped expression. Then he sighed deeply and said, "I think we both already know the answer to that question."

Farsight slumped in dismay. He hadn't chosen her. "Fine," she snapped, the hurt in her voice evident. "Go ahead, I'm not stopping you." She broke away from Mastermind's eyes and turned to gaze sadly over the lake of lava that bubbled tranquilly beside them.

"What are you talking about, Farsight?" Mastermind asked, wrapping his wings around her gently. "I would choose you. You know that I would always choose you. I could never be without you. I love you."

He held her close as she cried into his shoulder. Eventually, her tears stopped and she looked up at him. "I thought you meant..."

"That I'd choose my work over the two of us?" Mastermind asked, finishing her sentence. "I would never do that. I love you and I will always love you, Farsight."

He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. And there they sat, two dragons, two lovers, lost in each other's embrace, their silhouettes outlined by the lake of fire behind them.

 **Eight years ago...**

"Farsight," Mastermind whispered. There was no real need to-there was nobody around them to overhear them. It was late and even Strongwings had left the lab. "I want to tell you something."

"What is it?" Farsight asked, leaning in just to be closer to her lover, just to feel his warmth on her scales.

"I've been thinking lately," Mastermind said. "And I've come to the conclusion that we shouldn't keep secrets from each other. And so I want to tell you a secret I've kept for a very long time."

Farsight found herself wondering what it could be. She was mildly suspicious-had Mastermind been seeing another NightWing? But she pushed those thoughts away, choosing instead to fully trust the dragon she loved. "Go on."

"The reason I was always so focussed on my work," he said. It wasn't the case nowadays-ever since Farsight had confronted him about his priorities the last time, he had made it a point to find time just for the two of them. "The reason I was so caught up with it all was because I was taking orders from the Queen herself."

"The Queen? Queen Battlewinner?" Farsight asked, in part relieved but also curious.

Mastermind nodded. "The one and only. She was attacked by an IceWing. Her insides are slowly freezing-she's confined to a pool of lava to stop the ice."

"That's terrible," Farsight said. She shuddered at the mere thought of such a cruel fate.

"Yeah, I know. It must've been worse for her daughter to see her mother on the brink of death like that," Mastermind said. "The Queen wanted it to be kept a secret. She didn't want any other dragons finding out. I've been tasked with creating a suit of armour for her-something to keep the lava in so she can leave that pool. I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

"Then why are you telling me?" Farsight asked, shocked. "If anyone finds out, you could be executed for treason."

"Because I know I can trust you, Farsight," he replied. "And because I need your help. I've hit a roadblock and I just can't seem to find a way around it. No matter what I think, no matter what I try, I can't seem to circumvent it."

"I'll help in any way I can," Farsight told him. "I might not know as much as you but I'll try to help."

"I knew you would," Mastermind said fondly, twining his tail with her's.

 **Seven years before...**

Mastermind was working late that night just like he had been for the whole week. Farsight walked into the lab, a goat clutched in her jaws. She found her haggard-looking mate amidst a mound of scrolls, diagrams and all manner of apparatuses, a wild look in his harried eyes.

"I brought you something," she said quietly, not wanting to disturb his concentration. She deposited the goat on the table next to him.

Mastermind's expression brightened a fraction as he looked up from his things and into her eyes. "Thanks," he said hoarsely as he reached over for the carcass. Farsight leaned in and kissed him gently. "Stay strong, my love," she said. "You'll figure it out eventually. I believe in you."

And that was all the encouragement he really needed.

 **Later...** _  
_

Mastermind staggered into the cave they shared, his face looking utterly defeated. Farsight was by his side immediately, wrapping a wing around him and holding him close. _  
_

"What's the matter, dear?" she asked concernedly, touching a talon to his snout. _  
_

"We were so close," Mastermind murmured miserably. "So very close... I thought we had it... I thought we'd finally figured it out… But we were wrong... I was wrong..."

Then he broke down, weeping openly. Farsight pulled him close and ran her talons along his back soothingly.

"There there, it's alright." She knew how much being right meant to Mastermind. He was always so convinced that the survival of the NightWing tribe, the next earth-shaking breakthrough in science, all rested on his overburdened shoulders. "We all make mistakes now and then. It's what being a dragon is all about. None of us are perfect." _  
_

"But you don't need to be perfect," she told him quietly. "I'm not in love with the saviour of the NightWings or the most brilliant scientist that our tribe has ever produced. I'm in love with Mastermind; the cute, the kind and sometimes socially-awkward dragon I've known all this time. I love you just the way you are."

Eventually, the storm of his weeping passed and he was still. She could tell by the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest that he was asleep. She didn't blame him. He had been working day and night for the past month. Fatigue had finally caught up with him. She set him down gently and lay down beside him. "I love you Mastermind," she said, though he could not hear her. "I love you and I'll never, ever leave you."

 **Six years ago...**

Mastermind's knees trembled as he stared at the body that lay before him on the funeral pyre. Farsight was as beautiful in death as she had been in life. How had it all gone so wrong? It was supposed to be a simple scouting mission. It was supposed to be safe. She had done it hundreds of times before.

"SkyWings," Strongwings had said when he had delivered the news. "She was attacked by SkyWings. She barely managed to lose them and make it back here. Her last words were to you."

Stay strong. I love you, she had said. He could still hear her voice-as if she was speaking to him from wherever dragons went when they died... But this time her words filled him with pain and sorrow rather than joy and hope.

Mastermind felt numb as he held her lifeless talon, watching her face intently-wishing that he wouldn't be seeing her for the last time, hoping beyond hope, yearning beyond the facts, that, somehow, she would get up alive and well and that none of it was real. He felt hollow inside as he watched the other NightWings ease the pyre into the small pool of molten magma. He felt warm tears spill from his eyes, simply no longer able to hold his grief in, as he watched the tranquil face of his companion, his lover, his soulmate slip peacefully beneath the lava.

 **Later...**

Mastermind was in his lab. He hadn't left in over a month since Farsight's death and the Council was beginning to fear for his sanity. There was little genuine concern there-a lot of their hopes rested on Mastermind's frail shoulders and they wanted to make sure he was up to the task-but Mastermind didn't care. He refused to leave his work-what else did he have left that made him who he was?

He didn't want to take a break, he didn't want to leave the familiar confines of the lab for fear that the sorrows of the past would return. He finally looked away from the prototype helmet he had been toiling over for the past month, half-hoping to see the familiar figure of Farsight standing there, dinner clutched in her jaws and her comforting wings wrapped around him. Tears filled his eyes as all the painful memories came back to him.

"Useless!" he screamed, hurling the helmet across the room. All his pent-up grief finally burst through the dam he had built up around it to keep it in. He slumped over his workbench, sobbing helplessly. "Why?! Why did you have to go? I can't live without you... I don't want to..." He felt so alone…

He missed her. The gaping hole in his heart ached with a longing just to see her once more. He had always thought she be there for him, always be there to support him, to love him. But now that she was gone, he had nothing left to live for. Mastermind curled up on the ground, weeping bitterly at the memories of the past and of love that could never be again...

 **Present day...** _  
_

Mastermind started at the sound of clawfalls nearby as he tested the helmet he had been working on. They weren't coming from his lab assistant, Strongwings, and that could only mean one thing-outsiders. A slight jolt of panic gripped Mastermind. Were they messengers from Greatness? Oh no, this wouldn't do at all... He turned to see a large NightWing, Morrowseer, standing at the doorway to his lab.

"No, no! I must not be interrupted! This experiment is at a critical juncture!" he said hurriedly, a note of hysteria entering his voice. "And Greatness says I might be shut down at any moment! Everyone please leave!"

Curious, Morrowseer never usually took enough interest in his research to pay him a visit down here in person. Even more curious were the dragonets standing by his side-one male and one female.

"Mastermind," Morrowseer said with frustrating calmness. "It seems you were right all along. The dragonet from Farsight's egg is apparently your son, and he's here now, so I've brought him to meet you."

Mastermind froze. Had he heard that right? He blinked several times to clear his bleary vision and lifted the top of the helmet from his eyes. "My son?" he asked, not quite believing what his eyes, and Morrowseer for that matter, were telling him. His face broke into a smile-something he hadn't done in a very long time...


End file.
